America runs on bacon and blueberry muffins

Why nutritionists are worried about the rise in breakfast sales

By

JenWieczner

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Nutritionists might be pleased to hear more Americans are eating breakfast. That is, until they read what’s on the menu.

Sales of breakfast foods grew nearly 20% between 2007 and 2011, jumping almost 7% last year — an increase that seems to be due to consumers’ appetite for pastries and bacon, according to a recent study by market research firm Mintel.

Want to lower your cholesterol? Eat a plant!

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WSJ's Shirley Wang reports on a new study showing that eating plant-based fat and proteins such as peanuts and soy milk is far more effective in lowering bad cholesterol than a diet low in saturated fats. Photo: AP Photo/Matthew Mead

Sales of breakfast meats grew nearly 10% in 2011, while sweet breakfast breads and pastries gained more than 5%. Together, the categories account for about 80% of the breakfast food market.

Although doctors and dietitians promote the morning meal as a healthy start to the day, experts say consumers aren’t eating a breakfast of champions. “It’s very hard to say whether it’s better to not eat breakfast or to eat bacon and doughnuts,” says Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group that has lobbied against high-fat and high-sugar diets. “This is not good news for Americans’ diets and health.”

But what makes Danishes and breakfast sausages so unhealthy — high levels of saturated fat, sodium and sugar — might also make them irresistible to consumers. When McDonald’s reported better than expected November revenue this week, the chain credited strong sales of its breakfast foods — a menu that includes the 1,090-calorie Big Breakfast With Hotcakes (biscuit included) — which now account for a fifth of its business.

“There is a tug of war in the American psyche going on — people want to eat healthier but taste is always important,” says John Frank, manager of the food and drink category for Mintel.

While eating upon waking has proven health benefits — people who skip the meal experience diminished mental performance, consume more sweets and soda and eat fewer veggies — analysts say much of the growth in breakfast consumption may not be happening in the morning at all. More than half of consumers say they eat breakfast foods for dinner, while 40% say they eat them for dessert, according to Mintel. Wootan recommends people do the exact opposite and incorporate more fruit and vegetables into every meal: “It would be better if you try to eat dinner foods for breakfast,” she says.

(Consumers are also drinking less milk — 3% fewer gallons last year than in 2010, and 30% less than they did in 1975, The Wall Street Journal reported this week. (See “America’s Milk Business in Crisis”.)

To be sure, many consumers are expressing a desire for healthier breakfast options, according to the Mintel survey, and companies and restaurants are catering to them. The sale of pastries may be up because brands are increasingly making miniature (and lower-calorie) versions of their doughnuts, muffins and bagels, Frank says. A McDonald’s spokesperson says the company has also been pushing lighter, under-300-calorie breakfast options such as a fruit and yogurt parfait, and that it’s testing an egg-white breakfast sandwich in some markets.

Indeed, the number of restaurant menu items containing turkey bacon, a leaner variation on the original, more than tripled between 2009 and 2012, Mintel found. But real bacon, fat and all, remains the top breakfast choice, with menu dishes featuring the ingredient increasing more than 19% over the same time period. Bacon sales are sizzling at natural supermarkets too, where they rose 62% between 2009 and 2011.

Interestingly, people who try to eat healthy may be the least likely to enjoy the supposedly “most important meal of the day”: Mintel’s study found that only a fraction of health-minded consumers buy breakfast food at all.

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